Google Takes Fight Over Record Antitrust Fine to EU Courts

The fine handed to Google was a significant hike on the previous record penalty of €1.06bn (£937m) dished out by the commission to United States microchip firm Intel in 2009.

Internet giant Google on Monday appealed against the record 2.4-billion euro fine imposed by European anti-trust authorities for favouring its own shopping service, lodging an appeal at the EU court in Luxembourg.

Spokesperson for the commission said it will defend its decision in court.

Let's say you didn't want to buy a frock though, and were just searching for the term.

Comparison shopping services rely to a great extent on traffic to be competitive, meaning that Google's engineering of search results skewed the market unfairly.

This action before the general court of the European Union, should further increase the tensions that last for seven years now between the Commission, guardian of competition in Europe, and the american giant of the Internet. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate.

The European Commission gave Google until September 28 to change its practices to avoid further fines. But Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals.

At the time of the ruling, the tech giant had said it "respectfully" disagreed with the findings and would consider an appeal. "We will review the Commission's decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case".